Spectre Review

Reviews Counted:8Positive:8Negative : 0From All the Top Indian Critics reviews on the web

Ratings:3.5/5 Review By:Rajeev Masand Site:CNN IBN

To be fair, while never matching Skyfall or Casino Royale for their suspense or emotional impact, Spectre is pretty good blockbuster entertainment, and comes with plenty nods to 007 lore. Like a satisfying masala Bollywood film, Spectre is strictly escapist fun. Nothing wrong with that. It’s just that you know what they could’ve pulled off had they tried harder. I’m going with three-and-a-half out of five.

Visit Site for moreRatings:3/5 Review By:Jyoti Sharma Bawa Site:Hindustan Times

For those who are going to compare it to Skyfall, this simply isn’t as good. There is neither the emotional connect nor the sweet melancholy that inhabited the last film, but it is a joyous ride nonetheless. And for what he made out of Bond, we owe this to Daniel Craig as he dons the tux for the very last time. You also owe it to the teenager inside you who loves the whirl of excitement the way only Bond can give – shaken not stirred.

But then, Spectre has at its core a James Bond. Despite all its flaws, the film is better than a lot of your average fare. The story is easy to figure out and the grey matter is sung a lullaby to, but Spectre is to be savoured.

Spectre is one of Bond’s most thrilling action movies – but also one of his most ghostly, reaching into an eerie past. Looking back too often loosens the ground under Bond’s feet now – this could’ve been much tighter, as could be Waltz’s mildly mincing Blofield.However, a few moans aside, Spectre’s action still shakes and stirs, leaving you loving its oak and leather, champagne – and dynamite.

Mendes cannot ever be as artless as that clunker, of course, and there is both sophistication and elegance to be found in Spectre — whenever Hoytema gets to shoot exotic, tangerine-tinged top-shots of exotic cities like Tangiers, for example, or one great hand-to-hand fight on a train — but these moments are few, far between and not fanciful enough.Even the Sam Smith song, Writing’s On The Wall, is a caterwauling falsetto more suited to this adorably geeky new Q than to 007 himself. If only that car-switch worked. (‘How was it, M?’ ‘Long, James. Long.’)

The film, in effect, appears over plotted and a little too long-drawn with a flagging middle act and a neatly executed conclusion. This Bond is akin to an ageing Romeo striving to engage in young-man games…and falling flat just a little too often to be exciting!

In 1966, Kingsley Amis attributed the success of the Bond stories partly to what he called the “Fleming effect,” noting how Bond’s fantastic world, “as well as the temporary, local, fantastic elements,” are “‘bolted down’ to some sort of reality.” The Bond movies have always managed to tap into reality by switching on a camera, a connection to the material world that lingered no matter how far out the villains, their wild lairs and intrigues. The current Bond team is trying to keep the audience entertained with new tricks and gizmos while keeping it kind of real, which perhaps explains why this Bond sweats buckets, tears up and even bares his feelings. Craig is very good at selling Bond’s humanity, though in truth, what has always really turned us on isn’t 007’s humanity but the reverse.

The film is more of a romance thriller than an espionage film, with a bloated plot at a meandering pace, without any real or semblance of reasoning. The pacing is leisured. The film slows down for beautiful cinematography as characters take their time to breathe their complexities on screen. Overall, ‘Spectre’ is a dazzling film, but it lacks the lustre and adrenaline rush of a 007 film from the bygone Cold War Era. The chutzpah and the aura are missing.

Spectre Story: A cryptic message from the past leads James Bond (Daniel Craig) to Mexico City and Rome, where he meets the beautiful widow (Monica Bellucci) of an infamous criminal. After infiltrating a secret meeting, 007 uncovers the existence of the sinister organization SPECTRE. Needing the help of the daughter of an old nemesis, he embarks on a mission to find her. As Bond ventures toward the heart of SPECTRE, he discovers a chilling connection between himself and the enemy (Christoph Waltz) he seeks